PC audio output to AMP and 5.1 setup

Reektan

Reektan

Reektan

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Hi All,

I've moved my gaming PC which has a Creative Labs Xtreme Music card in it - all analogue outputs with no optical it seems. I have a 3.5mm cable going through to a L/R input on the amplifier - these seems to run Pro Logic. In games such as Dragon Age or TF2 you can hear some faint background sound on the rears but if you fire a grenade or start talking to somebody then turn around the voice cuts off instead of coming out of the rears. I've done a bit of reading on 5.1 PC gaming and it's still confusing me a little.

Would you recommend I upgrade to a better card with optical perhaps or can I purchase some extra cables and use the rest of the outputs into my amp ( it has a multi ch in section which I could use ).

Basically I would just like to have 5.1 audio like I do for my consoles which support it out of the box over optical.

Any help really appreciated.
 
If your amp has multi channel analogue connections, just buy some cables. Some AV amps only have SPDIF connection, if that were to be the case, you would have to get an I/O module. The Xtreme Music does support SPDIF, I have the same card. Creative were not too smart though, the Xtreme Music requires an extra module to take advantage of SPDIF, and it is not easy to get hold of.

Going by your post though, you do have analogue multi in, so it's much cheaper and easier to get some cables.
 
Ok, that makes a lot of sense. One thing confusing me with this :

29-102-188-01.JPG


Line 3 ( main fronts )will be a 3.5mm > L/R RCA into the 'Front' Multi CH in port
Line 2 ( center ) the amp only has a single port for Center and one for Subwoofer, would this just be a 3.5mm > 3.5mm center port in the Multi CH in ?
Line 1 ( rears ) will be a 3.5mm > L/R RCA into the 'Rears' Multi CH in port

Does that look correct?
 
Reektan said:
Hi All,

...can I purchase some extra cables and use the rest of the outputs into my amp ( it has a multi ch in section which I could use ).

Basically I would just like to have 5.1 audio like I do for my consoles which support it out of the box over optical.

Any help really appreciated.
Click to expand...

AFAIK you'll need creative's proprietary cable for that - I was using that until last night when I got the new Auzentech Home Theater...might not need mine anymore but haven't got my new card fully working yet.

the cable isn't that cheap from them, but imo the xtrememusic was such a bargain of a card imo that I had no problem (bought it for like 50 quid just after x-fi's came out about 4 years ago)
 
Reektan said:
Ok, that makes a lot of sense. One thing confusing me with this :

29-102-188-01.JPG


Line 3 ( main fronts )will be a 3.5mm > L/R RCA into the 'Front' Multi CH in port
Line 2 ( center ) the amp only has a single port for Center and one for Subwoofer, would this just be a 3.5mm > 3.5mm center port in the Multi CH in ?
Line 1 ( rears ) will be a 3.5mm > L/R RCA into the 'Rears' Multi CH in port

Does that look correct?
Click to expand...

you *might* not need the cable I mentioned, as it is for 7.1 rather than 5.1, not sure would have to do a bit of research....
 
Hmm yeah that's what i was thinking. The only thing confusing me is the center speaker. That cable outputs to l/r but on the multi ch in there is
a single socket for center, unlike the rear and fronts which have l and r. I think I'll need a single 3.5mm for the front instead of one of those above you linked.
 
The centre and sub are a shared connection on the sound card. Front is a shared connection too, left and right. One of those cable splits the front connection into left and right RCA, which is then connected to the amp. The same cable can split centre and sub, you just have to know if centre is red or white. Centre is only 1 channel, as is the sub, as is left and the same goes for right, and rears. They are just combined, so you get front left and right, centre and sub, rear left and right.
 
if your amp has a coax or spdif (optical input) you can get a soundcard from OCUK that will output 5.1 over the spdif to your amp. Its the same problem I have at the moment (although I am only connecting the PC up to my Z5500 speakers.
 
Marsman - just thought I'd let you know - got the cables through. Cabled it all up, took a couple minutes working out which was Center and Sub but using the windows control panel to test each speaker got it going. Games all output in 5.1 now :) Thanks for all the help, really appreciate your comments and assistance.
 
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